The rain in Yokohama put paid to the ambitions of Britain’s triathletes, but 22 year-old Sophie Coldwell showed that she has the potential to get to the top after finishing fourth. Jonathan Brownlee was amongst the British athletes crashing in poor conditions.
The men and women’s races were won by reigning ITU World Champions Mario Mola (ESP) and Flora Duffy (BER). However, British athletes were caught up in crashes and will leave Yokohama hoping for better fortunes at the next round in Leeds. Brownlee, Tom Bishop, Non Stanford and Jess Learmonth were amongst the athletes to hit the tarmac when they were well placed in the race.
2017 ITU World Triathlon Yokohama RESULTS:
Elite Men
| 1. | Mario Mola | ESP | 01:48:15 |
| 2. | Fernando Alarza | ESP | 01:48:23 |
| 3. | Kristian Blummenfelt | NOR | 01:48:26 |
| 11. | Gordon Benson | GBR | 01:49:46 |
| 12. | Thomas Bishop | GBR | 01:49:54 |
| 42. | Jonathan Brownlee | GBR | 01:55:11 |
| DNF. | Adam Bowden | GBR | DNF |
Elite Women
| 1. | Flora Duffy | BER | 01:56:18 |
| 2. | Katie Zaferes | USA | 01:58:09 |
| 3. | Kirsten Kasper | USA | 01:58:17 |
| 4. | Sophie Coldwell | GBR | 01:58:48 |
| 5. | Vicky Holland | GBR | 01:58:50 |
| 7. | Non Stanford | GBR | 01:59:04 |
| 8. | Jessica Learmonth | GBR | 01:59:18 |
| 11. | Lucy Hall | GBR | 01:59:35 |
For full results, please visit here
Brownlee crashed over the safety barrier after trying to avoid another rider on the technical course and carried his bike 1km by foot before running to 42nd place overall.
He said: "It was going quite well, the swim went really well. But my shoe came out (at the start of the bike) and I had to go back to transition, that was my first bit of bad luck and it stopped the breakaway. It could have have been a very different race."
About the crash, he added: "My first recaction was to get back on the bike, get back riding, but then I got to my bike and the handle bars were pointing wrong direct and I couldn’t move it. I still want to run, I’ve not come all the way to Japan not to finish."
However, it was a good day for Sophie Coldwell, finishing fourth after truly world class swimming and cycling legs. It was only towards the end of the 10km run that she was overtaken by Kirsten Kasper (USA) for the bronze medal. Duffy and Katie Zaferes (USA) claimed the gold and silver.
Olympic bronze medal winner, Vicky Holland, finished in fifth, Stanford was seventh, Jessica Learmonth was eighth and Lucy Hall was 11th demonstrating the strength of the British women overall.
Gordon Benson and Tom Bishop finished 11th and 12th and will move on to Leeds knowing they have the form to make an impact in from of home fans on 11 June.
Mario Mola made reference to the conditions, commenting: “(It was) a very good day for me. On the bike we had to be very careful. You never know what’s going to happen and today was good to me.”
British Triathlon Performance Director, Brendan Purcell said: "No one had the perfect race, maybe apart from Sophie, but they delivered a set of solid results. If you line up enough bullets like that, you are going to start delivering."
BBC highlights will be shown at 1pm on BBC2 Sunday 14 May.
